The Sky Blues are doubtlessly feeling mighty good about themselves, with good reason.

City have posted three straight convincing victories including a derby demolition of Manchester United and a vital opening win in Champions League play.

As if those highs were not high enough, City will welcome last season's Champions League winners, Bayern Munich, to the Etihad on October 2. Given the dominant form of City as of late, the football world will be watching that match eagerly.

So this coming weekend's match with Aston Villa plainly does not measure up from an excitement standpoint.

Without Guzan, Villa would already be in the forefront of relegation speculation along with Sunderland and Crystal Palace.

City manager Manuel Pellegrini has employed predictable lineups in the biggest matches, i.e., the season opener against Newcastle United, the derby and the Champions League win at ViktoriaPlzen.

But the Stoke lineup was anything but easily foreseen, with forgotten men like Jack Rodwell and James Milner getting starts.

Pellegrini will be keen to keep City's momentum going, surely, but he also appears more committed to squad rotation than predecessor Roberto Mancini ever was.

Further, there are certain players Pellegrini simply cannot afford to put at risk at Villa Park ahead of the battle with Bayern, no matter how much he would like to win this Premier League match.

How many of my predicted XI will actually start?

0-7891011Submit Votevote to see results

How many of my predicted XI will actually start?

0-7

29.2%

8

30.6%

9

26.6%

10

8.7%

11

4.9%

Total votes: 448

Midfield magician David Silva has been all but ruled out of this match with Villa, per Richard Jolly of ESPNFC.com. Almost everyone else is available but a few of the brightest stars on the roster probably will not see action.

I just do not see Pellegrini putting Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure or Sergio Aguero in harm's way for this match. If City are to have any chance to stay with Bayern, all three of them need to be fit and well-rested.